Leela hosts a 40th anniversary party for her parents. However, during a video montage of their history together, they begin to argue about the direction their lives have taken: her mother, an exolinguist, wants to explore the universe now that they are no longer legally constrained to the sewers, while her father fears outer space and wants to surf the great sewer waves of the world. The conflicts lead to them getting a divorce, and Munda moving in with Leela.

When Leela (along with Fry and Bender) takes her mother out to a bar, they encounter Zapp Branigan in negotiation with shark-like aliens called Carcarons; he botches the negotiations with his poor command of their language, severely insulting them; however, Munda is able to salvage the situation by speaking the language properly. Zapp begins flirting with Munda, and the two begin dating.

Leela strongly disapproves of the relationship, convinced that he is attempting to get to her through her mother, but no one believes her, and Munda thinks that she is just jealous. Zapp then hires Munda as his personal translator so the two can spend more time together and she can explore the universe as she always wanted.

Meanwhile, Morris is not coping with divorce as well; Leela convinces him to take Fry and Bender on the surfing trip he had always dreamed of, which cheers him up greatly. Although both of her parents are now happy, Leela is still relentless in her attempts to break up her mother and Zapp. Ultimately Munda decides to move out of her daughter's apartment. Leela attempts to prove her theory that Zapp is really interested in her by inviting him over for dinner. She tries to seduce him when he arrives, but he refuses her, insisting that he loves Munda. Munda hears this, Zapp proposes to her, and she accepts.

Act III: "We're under attack and the wedding's off. Kif, return fire and the cake."[edit]

At the last minute, Fry convinces Leela to support her mother's decision and attend the wedding. He even wonders if maybe she would marry him and she replies that she might. In the middle of the ceremony, however, the Carcarons arrive to sign a peace treaty, and Zapp and Munda must meet with them. During the meeting, Zapp reveals that he is planning to trick the Carcarons into war; Munda is horrified by this, and calls off the wedding. She also tells the Carcarons of Zapp's plan, causing them to declare war anyway. Moreover, the Nimbus has been disabled, and can only be operated by an auxiliary control panel. Morris appears, determined to win back Munda, and uses his surfing skills to help the ship ride the energy wave attacks of the Carcarons. Once peace is achieved, Zapp remarries Munda and Morris.

On 16 November 2011, Eric Rogers revealed that he was the author of the episode.[2]

In 2012, a few revelations concerning the episode were made. On 29 February, CGEF revealed the episode's title to be "Zapp Dingba [sic]" and its director to be Frank Marino.[3][4] On 15 March, Eric Rogers announced the "1st color screening of [his] 1st episode as a full time hack [there] on the show" - probably referring to this episode - and revealed that he "[could not] wait to see what Rough Draft [had] done"[5] and, later that day, that it had been "delightful", that he "could not be happier with how [it] turned" and that it was "gonna be a great episode".[6] On 2 May, MSN TV revealed the episode's plot and air date.[7]

In May, Countdown to Futurama began releasing promotional material for the episode. It has so far released eight items: A design of a new character, the Carcaron admiral, which revealed the episode's actual title on 25 May,[8] a promotional picture showing Leela - in lingerie - and Zapp Brannigan in Leela's apartment and a character design of Leela in lingerie on 26 May,[9] a character design of Bender in a Carmen Miranda-style dress with a headdress made of rotting fruit and a design of another new character, the mouth monster, on 28 May,[10] part of the storyboard showing Leela's father, Fry and Bender be chased by three leprechauns,[11] a video clip featuring Zapp Brannigan and Kif negotiate a peace treaty with the Carcaron admiral and a similar creature[1] - which revealed the Carcaron admiral to be named "Admiral Chew" - and the fourth Futuramapodcast[12] - which revealed "Carcaron" to be the name of Admiral Chew's species - on 29 May and the fifth Futuramapodcast[13] - which stated that the episode was "the world's first TV episode ever named after a font" - on 6 June.

Comedy Central's website released two other promotional pictures, the first showing George Takei's head watching a stripper and the second showing Zapp holding out a ring.[14] By 10 July, Comedy Central had aired an advertisment for the seventh season of Futurama which featured a new clip from the episode.[15]

The title "Blue Munda", which was registered on the US Copyright Catalog on 8 September 2011,[16] was possibly a working title for this episode.

Fry and Bender rarely appear in the episode. In addition, Professor Farnsworth and Hermes both appear multiple times, but have no speaking roles. This is most likely due to the fact that this episode has no B-plot centered on another character, a rare occurrence.

The name "Carcaron" stems from the genus name "Carcharodon" for the great white shark.[12]

When Leela spies on Zapp and Munda onboard the Nimbus, she goes incognito wearing the same disguise she wore in "War Is the H-Word" as Lee Lemon.

Leela wears a pair of one-eared bunny slippers while waiting for her mother to return from a date with Zapp, a reference to Bongo from Matt Groening's earlier work Life in Hell.

Zapp Brannigan explains to Kif, "The quickest way into a girl's bed, is through her parents, have sex with them and you're in." Which possibly could mean that Zapp was still making an effort to seduce Leela despite his feelings for Turanga Munda.

Zapp: [speaking into something] Now, regarding this peace treaty, Admiral Chew—Kif: That's a napkin dispenser, sir. This is the universal translator.[Kif places a universal translator from "A Clone of My Own" on the table and then one of its two microphones on each side.]Zapp: Whatever.[Zapp drops the napkin dispenser - but Kif catches it.]

Zapp: Very well, Morris, Munda. I now pronounce you man and wife. May I kiss the bride?[Morris punches Zapp in the stomach.]Zapp: Congratulations.[Zapp falls to the ground in pain and Morris and Munda go back to holding hands/tentacles while looking into each other's eye.]